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Bonds begins HOF campaign

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Aug 7, 2012.

  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Carew was a much better base runner and base stealer than either Wade Boggs or Tony Gwynn. Carew was a very good base stealer, which is getting lost in this (I totally disagree with the assessment that Jeff Bagwell was a better base runner than Rod Carew).

    I also think as great as Boggs and Gywnn were, Carew was an even better hitter and was more consistent for a longer period of time. There wasn't a hole in his swing. He batted .300 or better in 15 consecutive seasons. Only three other players have done that.
     
  2. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Carew was a very good base stealer but I'm amazed he only scored more than 100 runs once in his career.
     
  3. mateen

    mateen Well-Known Member

    The biggest 80s injustice is Tim Raines. Had more combined hits and walks for his career than Tony Gwynn (3935 to 3931), and 808 SB with an 85% success rate, But there are people out there voting for Jack Morris but not for Raines.
     
  4. mateen

    mateen Well-Known Member

    It's hard to envision this now, given the proportions he's taken on, but Tony Gwynn actually was fast early in his career - 56 steals in 1987, more than Carew ever had. For his career he had 319 steals.

    Boggs was, as everybody said even at the time, greatly helped by his home park, but his Red Sox peak was better than Carew's peak - he had seven straight years of over 200 hits, with at least 89 walks in each of those seasons; from '85 to '88 his lowest OBP was .450. And thanks to the doubles off the wall at Fenway, his power numbers don't look bad (7 straight years of 40+ doubles).
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I agree 100 percent on Raines. He had two things working against him, 1. Playing in Montreal and 2. Being overshadowed by Rickey Henderson, but he should have been inducted awhile ago.

    I think he'll eventually get in, but when he got something like 25 percent his first year, I remember thinking, "You've got to be fucking kidding me..."
     
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It is amazing.

    Mitigating that a bit is that it was a much lower-scoring era than today. If he played today, he would certainly score 100 runs or more every season.

    The other thing about Carew, and these are just anecdotal things I remember. I was a kid. But I remember him always being the kind of player who could stretch a double into a triple, when other players wouldn't have been able to.

    You can tell I was a fan!
     
  7. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    actually if you say 85-87 he definitely was among the top 3-5 best in the game.
     
  8. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Jack and Tim belong.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    OK, 2013 Ballot... Who do you pick? Here's the list of players who seem at least somewhat legitimate candidates. I left Bernie Williams, Kenny Lofton and David Wells off...

    First year on ballot...

    Barry Bonds -
    Roger Clemens -
    Sammy Sosa -
    Craig Biggio -
    Mike Piazza -
    Curt Schilling -

    Holdovers...

    Tim Raines -
    Dale Murphy -
    Mark McGwire -
    Rafael Palmeiro -
    Alan Trammell -
    Lee Smith -
    Jack Morris -
    Edgar Martinez -
    Fred McGriff -
    Larry Walker -
    Don Mattingly -

    I just read something where Peter Gammons said the only three he would definitely vote for would be Biggio, Piazza and Schilling...
     
  10. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Bonds, Biggio, Clemens. Screw all the PED stuff. They were the best in their era.
     
  11. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Gammons has decided that Mike Piazza never took steroids? That is pretty funny.
     
  12. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Have to agree with you on that one.
     
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